Redefining "Sustainability" as More, More and, Well, More

Since its birth in 1987, for many, the term "sustainable development" has become synonymous with "less." "Sustainability" seemed to lock us into a static, zero-sum game of painful sacrifices. Facing finite or shrinking ecological limits, we felt forced to: ensure future food security only by inhibiting demands today; increase jobs and revenues only at the expense of wild nature; and restore wildness only by crimping economic growth. But this week, groundbreaking research redefines sustainability more positively. Two years' collaboration with university scientists revealed that, through a transition to sustainable fishing -- harvesting smarter, not harder -- the oceans can yield far more, across the board. Preliminary results of our "upside model" show that, within just 10 years, profits can grow 115 percent to $51 billion USD a year compared to today, if all fisheries worldwide were managed sustainably. Importantly, this economic growth doesn't come at the cost of other goals: both seafood production and fish biomass in the ocean would also increase. However, if fishery reforms are not adopted and status quo remains, the health of the oceans will continue to decline. Under this scenario, the benefits of sustainable fishing are even more striking: globally fisheries could produce 17 MMT (or 23 percent) more wild seafood and generate $90 billion USD (or 315 percent) more in profits each year. The biomass of fish in the water would be 112 percent greater, making our ocea...
Source: Science - The Huffington Post - Category: Science Source Type: news